Systems and methods for domain name registration by proxy

ABSTRACT

A system and method of proxy domain name registration permits a would-be domain name registrant anonymity. A registrar affords customers the opportunity to use the proxy registration. If the customer seeking registration of a domain name requests, the registrar obtains contact information needed for registration from a proxy entity established for this purpose. The registrar completes the registration of the domain name with the appropriate registry (i.e. “.com, .net” etc.). The contact information published in WHOIS is that of proxy entity. Contractually the customer is afforded control over the domain name. Emails intended for the customer are received by the proxy entity who may filter them if the customer requests. Emails sent by the customer are sent to the proxy entity who in turn sends them to the indicated addressee.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/526,107 to Robert R. Parsons, et al., with filing date Feb.28, 2005, and entitled: “Proxy Email Method and System,” which is a U.S.National Stage continuation of PCT Application No. PCT/US02/27956 “ProxyEmail Method and System,” filed Aug. 30, 2002 in the U.S. ReceivingOffice (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,627,633 on Oct. 31, 2006), priorityfrom which is hereby claimed.

This patent application is also related to the followingpreviously-filed patent applications:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/624,883 in the name of Robert R.Parsons, et al., with filing date Jul. 21, 2003 and entitled “Systemsand Methods for Domain Name Registration by Proxy” (issued as U.S. Pat.No. 7,130,878 on Oct. 31, 2006);

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/498,500 to Robert R. Parsons, etal., with filing date Aug. 2, 2006, and entitled: “Systems and Methodsfor Domain Name Registration by Proxy;” and

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/463,927 to Robert R. Parsons, etal., with filing date Aug. 10, 2009, and entitled: “Proxy Email Methodand System.”

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and system for proxy domainname registration and, more particularly, to a method and system forprivately registering domain names over the Internet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The Internet comprises a vast number of computers and computer networksthat are interconnected through communication links. The interconnectedcomputers exchange information using various services, such aselectronic mail, Gopher, and the World Wide Web (“WWW”). The WWW serviceallows a server computer system (i.e., Web server or Web site) to sendgraphical Web pages of information to a remote client computer system.The remote client computer system can then display the Web pages. Eachresource (e.g., computer or Web page) of the WWW is uniquelyidentifiable by a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). To view a specificWeb page, a client computer system specifies the URL for the Web page ina request (e.g., a HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) request). Thesefollow the familiar format http://www.xxx.com uniquely identifying theparticular resource. The request is forwarded to the Web server thatsupports that Web page to the client computer system. When the clientcomputer system receives that Web page, it typically displays the Webpage using a browser. A browser is a special-purpose application programthat effects the requesting of Web pages and the displaying of Webpages.

Currently, Web pages are typically defined using HyperText MarkupLanguage (“HTML”). HTML provides a standard set of tags that define howa Web page is to be displayed. When a user indicates to the browser todisplay a Web page, the browser sends a request to the server computersystem to transfer to the client computer system an HTML document thatdefines the Web page. When the requested HTML document is received bythe client computer system, the browser displays the Web page as definedby the HTML document. The HTML document contains various tags thatcontrol the displaying of text, graphics, controls, and other features.The HTML document may contain URLs or other Web pages available on thatserver computer system or other server computer systems.

Generally a Web page's address or URL is made up of the name of theserver along with the path to the file or the server. Rather than usinga Web hosting service's server name as their URL, most companies andmany individuals and other entities prefer a “domain name” of their ownchoosing. In other words, the Ford Motor Company probably would preferhttp://www.ford.com as its URL rather than, say,http://servername.com/˜ford, where “servername” is the name of a Webhosting service whose server The Ford Motor Company uses. For thispurpose then a “domain name,” e.g. “ford” can be registered, ifavailable, and the hosting service will use that URL for its customer'sWeb address.

The process of registering one's own domain name proceeds as follows:Referring to FIG. 1 shown there are the various entities thatparticipate in the registration of a domain name. The communicationslike those shown here and in other Figures of the drawings are typicallycommunications via the Internet, but could be direct LAN, or WANconnections, telephone land line or cell phone links, communications byRF or optic fibers among others. An individual, company, small businessor other entity 20 (hereinafter “customer”) desires to obtain his/herown domain name using one or more of the Internet Corporation forAssigned Names & Numbers (“ICANN”) approved top level domain (“TLD”)name extensions (e.g., .com, .net, .org, .us, .biz, etc.). All domainsare organized through a shared, central domain name registration system.There is one domain name registration system, or registry 22 for each ofthe ICANN-approved TLDs. Each registry 22 is operated and maintained byan ICANN-approved company 20. The entities 20, 24 and 22 in FIG. 1include, of course, computer installations equipped typically forInternet communication. FIG. 1 assumes that the customer 20 has a serveror servers. It may, however, contract with another, a host who providesservers as is conventional. This does not change the relationship of theentities involved here and so is not separately shown.

The process for registering a domain name with a particular registryrequires a customer to use an ICANN accredited registrar 24. Forexample, John Doe wishes to register the following domain name:“johndoe.com”. Initially, John Doe must verify whether the desireddomain name is or is not available, by contacting the ICANN-accreditedregistrar 24. Utilizing a database search engine run by the registrar24, at 30 in FIG. 2, JohnDoe can ascertain whether “johndoe.com” hasalready been registered by another customer by requesting the domainname from the registrar at 32. The registrar determines if the domainname is available at 34. If the desired domain name has not beenregistered, the registrar so advises the customer, at 35. The customercan proceed with the registration, utilizing the services of any ICANNapproved registrar.

Regardless of the registrar used to process the registration, thecustomer must (together with payment of the registrar's applicablefees), provide certain personal information at 36 in order to completethe registration. That information includes the customer's address andpersonal contact information including email addresses, phone numbersand mailing addresses of administrative and technical contacts. Theregistrar stores the customer contact information and domain name in atemporary, working contact table at 38. Thereafter, with theregistration request, the registrar transmits, at 40, certaininformation to the registry regarding both the registrar and thecustomer, who will, upon completion of the registration process, beidentified as the “registrant” of the domain that is now officiallyregistered with the registry. The registry adds, at 42, the domain name,the registrant's name and identification of the registrar to the part 23of the WHOIS database 27 kept by the registry. The registry confirmsregistration at 46. The registration process is concluded by theregistrar confirming the registration to the customer at 52 and 54.

Upon completion of the registration process at 41, certain identifyinginformation is made publicly available in a database managed by eachregistrar. This is the registrar's portion 25 of the WHOIS database 27shown on FIG. 1. For each registered domain name, the registrar's WHOISdatabase identifies the name of registrar, the registrar's “WHOIS”homepage link, the date the domain name was registered and the domainname's expiration date. The WHOIS database also makes public theregistrant's personally identifiable information, specifically theregistrant's name and postal address, phone number and email address,the name of administrative and technical contacts, and their respectivepostal address, voice and fax telephone numbers and email addresses andthe name of the servers upon which the registered domain name islocated.

The registrar's WHOIS database is accessible by anyone who has Internetaccess, anywhere and anytime. Although the use to which WHOIS data canbe put is limited by ICANN, the registrant's personally identifiableinformation is required to be readily available to the public, includingthose who would seek to engage in data mining, SPAMMING, or otherpotentially undesirable activities. A typical WHOIS record from aregistrar is shown in FIG. 10.

For certain domain name registrants, it would be desirable if thepersonal contact information required to be displayed on the WHOISdatabase were not available. For example, a celebrity who wishes toparticipate in activities on the WWW might not want her identity andother information known so as to avoid harassment, stalking, hacking,data mining or simply “prying eyes.” It would be desirable if suchpersons could anonymously participate in Web-related activities, evenhaving a home page, without their true identity being known, but withoutviolating the rules set down by ICANN. Typically, domain name ownersreceive email at an email address that contains their domain nameordinarily. For example, xxx@yyy.com is an email address where yyy isthe registrant's domain name. Because of the availability of theregistrant's email address on the WHOIS record available from theregistrar, a member of the public can address email to the registrant.In addition to shielding its domain name registrant from unwantedcontact including harassment, stalking, prying, and the like, it couldbe desirable to keep the domain name registrant's email addressconfidential. It could further be desirable in many instances for thatregistrant to have access to the email intended for it without having topublish its email address for all to see. In addition it could bedesirable to the anonymous Web participant to respond anonymously toemail or to originate email anonymously.

Filtering of email messages to preclude junk email, SPAM, unauthorizedbulk email, unauthorized commercial email, pornography, viruses, worms,Trojan horses, and other harmful submissions would often be desirable,as well.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this invention, a system and method for theregistration of domain names employs a proxy entity (“proxy”) tomaintain the confidentiality of a domain name owner. A would-be domainname registrant can choose to have its desired domain name registered inthe name of the proxy. The publicly available registrant informationlists just the proxy's personal contact information.

Email intended for the customer is diverted to the proxy registrantwhose email address appears on the publicly available registrationinformation WHOIS. The proxy can, if the customer desires, filter outunwanted email, block all email, or forward all email to the customer.

Contractually, the customer enjoys the full rights of ownership of thedomain name. The customer can: cancel the proxy's services anytime inwhich case ownership of the domain name will revert back to the privateregistrant; sell, transfer or assign the domain name to anyone else, inwhich event the purchaser, transferee or assignee will become theofficial “registrant” of record with the applicable registry; controland/or manage each domain name, including designating the IP address towhich each domain name points; cancel each domain name's registration;renew each domain name upon its expiration; and have a right of firstrefusal should proxy's ownership of the domain name become subject tocreditor's claims. The system permits the customer to cancel the proxyregistration at any time by two clicks on a Web page. Upon that command,the registrar who has registered the domain name in the name of theproxy transfers the domain name to the customer, using the customer'sactual contact information.

Typically the communications among the involved participants are amongcomputer installations via the Internet. But, without departing from theinvention, they could be by those other communication modes mentionedabove.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a would-be domainname customer contacts the registrar who then checks with the registryto see if the domain name is available. If it is, the registrar soadvises the customer, requests the customer's personal contactinformation and asks if the customer chooses to register by proxy. Ofcourse, this is done by interactive screens that are a part of theregistrar's Web site.

If the customer declines to register by proxy, then the registrarcompletes registration in the ordinary fashion. In that case, it will bethe customer's personal contact information and email address thatappears in the WHOIS records as usual.

On the other hand, if the customer decides to register by proxy, theregistrar temporarily records the customer's personal contactinformation in a temporary, working table. The registrar contacts theproxy entity and obtains from the proxy entity the personal contactinformation of the proxy entity. The registrar then registers the chosendomain name in the name of the proxy and gives the proxy's personalcontact information. The proxy, then, is the actual registrant and ownsthe domain name. As stated, however, all of the rights of ownership arecontractually made available to the customer. The registrar gives to theproxy the customer's personal contact information, and the proxy storesthat in a permanent record along with the domain name. The registrarstores the proxy's name, the domain name, and the proxy's personalcontact information and email address in its permanent database record,which is the registrar's portion of the WHOIS database.

Once the registrar completes the registration, the proxy will notify theindividual, via email, that an account with the proxy has been openedand request that the individual “click” on a link to activate theaccount. The individual will also be given a password so that theindividual can access his/her proxy account.

If the customer chooses, email intended for the customer will go to theproxy if the sender has determined the email address from the WHOISrecord or from another location such as a Web site or print medialisting the proxy email address. During the registration process, theregistrar has the customer indicate whether it wishes to receive allemail addressed to the proxy email address, no email addressed to thataddress, or email from which objectionable mail has been filtered.

If filtration is chosen by the customer during registration, then theproxy uses familiar filtration principles based on key words in themessage, known SPAM originators in the “from” field, and the number ofaddressees in either the “from” or the “cc:” field to determine if thereis objectionable content, if the email has come from a known source ofSPAM, or if the email is being emailed in bulk.

Of course the described operations are effected through programming atthe registrar and the proxy entity. When the proxy's email serverreceives email it determines whether it is real email for the proxy oremail intended for a customer. Email addressed to the proxy entity thatis to be forwarded has its message stripped and copied into an emailfrom the proxy along with the sender's email identity and the alert that“this message was sent to you at the proxy email address.”

The above and further objects and advantages will be better understoodwith reference to the following detailed description of at least onepreferred embodiment taken in consideration with the accompanyingdrawings

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the relationship between theparticipants in a prior art domain name registration process;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram in flowchart form illustrating themethod of domain name registration typically employed in a prior artregistration process;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram like FIG. 1 showing the relationship ofparticipants in a domain name registration process according to thisinvention;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram like FIG. 2 in flowchart formshowing the process of proxy domain name registration in accordance withthis invention;

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram in flowchart form showing the stepsin cancellation of proxy registration in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the relationship of participants in atypical email process;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram like FIG. 6 showing the participants in aproxy email process according to this invention;

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram in flowchart form illustrating aportion of the proxy registration process by which proxy email isaffected.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram in flowchart form illustrating theproxy email process;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary WHOIS record available from a registrar;

FIG. 11 is a screen shot illustrating an initial screen by which acustomer initiates registration by proxy;

FIG. 12 is a screen shot and illustrates a screen by which a customercan set his choices for email and input his contact's identification;

FIG. 13 is a screen shot of a screen by which a customer can accept maildelivery of mail to the proxy address appearing on the WHOIS record;

FIG. 14 is a screen shot showing a screen by which the customer cancancel proxy registration; and

FIG. 15 is a screen shot showing a screen by which a customer can accessmessages from the proxy.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning to FIG. 3, the participants in a domain name registration byproxy include the customer 20, the registrar 24, the registry 22, andthe proxy entity 60. Each of the registrar 24 and registry 22 has apermanent record portion 23, 25 of the WHOIS database 27. The registry'sportion 23 lists domain name, registrant, and registrar information. Theregistrar's portion 25 lists the information shown in FIG. 10, arepresentative WHOIS record from a registrar. The customer, registrarand proxy computer installations are typically in communication via theInternet. The registrar and registry are in communication, againtypically by Internet. The public indicated at 29 has available to itvia the Internet the WHOIS records in the databases maintained by theregistry and the registrar.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, proxy registration proceeds as follows. Justas in the prior art FIG. 2 a procedure, the customer visits registrar'sWeb site and requests registration at 62. The customer may be referredfrom a proxy's screen like that illustrated in FIG. 11. The registrarcomputer installation receives the request including the desired domainname at 64. It verifies availability at 66 by checking with the registryat 68 and advises the customer at 69. As indicated at 70, customerpersonal contact information, and in this case, a proxy request issupplied to the registrar. The registrar receives it at 72. Theregistrar stores the customer personal contact information in computermemory in a temporary, working contact table at 74. At 76 theregistrar's computer program enters a decision block. If no proxyrequest has been made the program continues as in FIG. 2. If, as here,proxy registration has been requested, then the registrar's programdeparts from the prior art FIG. 2 procedure and submits, at 77, thecustomer's personal contact information to the proxy at 78. At 80 theproxy stores the customer's personal information in its permanentdatabase. The proxy then sends its personal contact information to theregistrar at 82. Upon receipt of the proxy contact information at 84,the registrar sends a request for registration of the domain name andthe proxy personal contact information to the registry at 86. At 88, theregistry receives the request and records the domain name along with theproxy registrant identification and the registrar information in itsWHOIS portion 23. Then at 90 the registry confirms the registration.

Upon receiving the confirmation from the registry at 92, the registrarstores the proxy contact information in its permanent table that formsits portion of the WHOIS database 25, at 94 the registrar confirms theregistration to the customer, who receives that confirmation at 96.

By a screen shown in FIG. 14, the proxy entity affords the customer theopportunity to cancel proxy registration. The customer checks therelevant domain name by clicking on one or more of the boxes 98 providedand then by clicking on the cancel proxy button 100. As shown in FIG. 5a, at 102, by clicking on the cancel proxy button the customer sends thecancel order to the proxy at 104. The proxy retrieves the relevantcustomer contact information at 106. At 108 the proxy requests transferof the registration by the registrar, which receives that request at110. At 112, the registrar pulls the proxy contact information. Theregistrar then sends the request for transfer along with both the proxycontact information and the customer contact information at 114 to theregistry at 116. The registry effects transfer as shown at 118, FIG. 5b. The registry updates its portion 23 of the WHOIS database and at 120sends a confirmation to the registrar which is received at 122. Theregistrar updates its portion 25 of the WHOIS database and then sendsconfirmation at 124 to the customer, who receives it at 126.

FIG. 7 shows the relationship of the participants in a proxy emailaddress management system. As previously, the proxy 60 is the proxydomain name registrant. Email senders 29 who learn of the proxyregistrant's email address from WHOIS 27, or from another source, sendtheir email to the proxy email address as indicated at 130. The proxy 60forwards such email as the customer has indicated he or she isinterested in receiving. This is indicated at 132.

As shown in the screen shot of FIG. 12, the customer 29 was given anumber of filtration choices at 134. The customer can elect to have allemail forwarded by the proxy 60, to filter called “junk email” or not tohave mail sent to the proxy email address forwarded.

Returning to FIG. 7 in one embodiment, the customer 20 who desires tosend email of his or her own addresses the mail to the proxy who thenforwards the mail under its own proxy email address. In this embodiment,the customer's email address is not revealed. Alternatively, the proxyonly forwards email to the customer. The customer then, if he or she sodesires, responds to those emails of interest under its own emailaddress.

FIG. 8 shows the process by which proxy email is established. After ithas been determined that the domain name is available as previouslydescribed, the customer 20 is prompted for his or her contactinformation including email address. the customer is also prompted toindicate proxy domain name registration is desired and whether proxyemail is desired. If so, the customer's filter choices are to beindicated as indicated at the location 134 on the screen of FIG. 12. Thecustomer responds at 180. The registrar receives the contact informationincluding the email address at 182. It stores these at 184. At thedecision block 186, it is determined whether a proxy request has beenmade. If not, the program proceeds as in FIG. 2. If yes is the answer,the registrar submits customer personal information to the proxyincluding the email address and filter choices at 188 in FIG. 8 b. Theproxy receives the information at 190 and stores it in its permanentdatabase at 192. At 194 the proxy also stores the email address inassociation with the proxy email address and filter choices. At proxy 60of FIG. 7, for each customer that requests to be registered for proxyemail, the email address management system creates a virtual emailaddress according to naming conventions and associates it with thatcustomer's account. At 196 in FIG. 8 c the proxy sends proxy informationincluding the virtual email address to the registrar, which theregistrar receives at 198. The registrar sends the request for domainname registration with the identification of the proxy as the registrantand the registrar information to the registry at 200. The registryrecords this information in its portion 23 of WHOIS at 202. The registryconfirms registration at 204. The registrar receives that confirmationat 206. At 208 the registrar stores the proxy contact information in itspermanent table along with the email address of the proxy and thisappears in the WHOIS record 25 administered by the registrar. Theregistrar then confirms the registration to the customer who receives itat 208. The customer receives the confirmation at 210. The customer isnow set up to receive email filtered as desired.

The proxy email address management system of the proxy uses thefollowing standards. For the domain name “DomainA.com” the virtual emailaddress dbp.DomainA.com@DomainsByProxy.com is assigned. Thus, thevirtual email address is unique to each domain and conflict with a realemail address on DomainsByProxy.com, the domain name of the proxy, isimprobable.

At the proxy installation an email server is set up to accept emails forthe proxy's email address domain. The processing of email by the proxyis shown in FIG. 9. At 136, the proxy computer installation receivesemail from a sender such as one of the individuals 29 in FIG. 7. At 138,the proxy sender determines it's an email intended for a customer andlooks up the customer email addresses and filter preferences. The emailserver is configured to send all of the incoming proxy email messages toa common “catch-all” account. Email messages for the email server arestored according to RFC821 (SMTP) requirements. The email addressmanagement system periodically checks each account for new emailmessages via the known POP protocol. This polling model was chosen toseparate the email address management system from the email server.Thereby, the email server does not need to have intrinsic knowledge ofthe management system. The management system is therefore capable ofusing any email server that supports the POP protocol.

When new email is found, the system iterates through each email found onthe email server. For each message, it checks the “To:” addresses andthe “Cc:” addresses for virtual email addresses being served by theproxy. If it finds one, it retrieves the real email address for thatcustomer and that customer's email forwarding preference. At 140 it isdetermined whether the customer has chosen to filter out all email. Ifthat is the case, the program is ended at 132. If the answer is no, thenit is determined whether the customer has sought to filter out junkemail, e.g., SPAM, bulk advertisements, etc. If the answer at thedecision block 144 is yes, then the proxy uses known programs todetermine, based on key words in the message, whether the message islikely to be SPAM, pornography, or other objectionable content. Thenumber of recipients is checked in the “To:” or “Cc:” fields todetermine if this is likely bulk solicitations or mailings and these arefiltered out. Email from known purveyors of SPAM, bulk mailings and adscan be filtered out. Once filtration is done, the remaining emails are,at 148, stripped of their message, copied into an email from the proxyto the customer. It is sent to the customer along with the sender'semail address and a message that the email was received by the proxy.The email is then forwarded to the customer at 150. Once every emailaddress for that message has been checked for proxy users, it is deletedfrom the host email server.

As shown in FIG. 15, in addition to email, the customer can receivemessages directly from the proxy 60. These are typically messagesbearing on the status of the account and also messages that can indicatethe receipt of surface mail. Remembering that the contact information inWHOIS includes the proxy's address, persons desirous of sending surfacemail will from time to time address that surface mail to the mailingaddress in the contact information. FIG. 13 is a screen shotillustrating the proxy's communication of, in this case, the receipt ofa complaint instituting a suit against the customer. This is shown atthe field 212. At 214 the customer is given the opportunity to say thathe or she does wish to receive this mail, or at 216 the customer isgiven an opportunity to decline receiving the mail.

The foregoing descriptions of at least one preferred embodiment areexemplary and not intended to limit the claimed invention. Obviousmodifications that do not depart from the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed in the following claims will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art.

1. A system, comprising: (a) a registrar installation comprising: (i)means for receiving at least one customer domain name registrationrequest from at least one customer, (ii) means for communicating atleast one registrar domain name registration request to a registry, theat least one registrar domain name registration request comprising atleast one domain name and at least one domain name registrant contactinformation, (iii) means for communicating the at least one domain nameand at least one customer information regarding the at least onecustomer to a proxy installation, and (iv) means for storing the atleast one domain name registrant contact information, (b) the proxyinstallation comprising: (i) means for receiving and storing the atleast one customer information communicated to the proxy installation bythe registrar installation, and (ii) means for communicating at leastone proxy information to the registrar installation, (c) the registrarinstallation being responsive to receipt of the at least one proxyinformation by: (i) submitting the at least one registrar domain nameregistration request to the registry, wherein the at least one domainname registrant contact information comprises the at least one proxyinformation, and (ii) storing the at least one proxy information in themeans for storing the at least one domain name registrant contactinformation.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the proxyinstallation further comprises means enabling the at least one customerto signal a command to cancel a proxy registration.
 3. The systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the means enabling the at least onecustomer to signal the command to cancel comprises means responsive tothe at least one customer's signal of the command to cancel forautomatically causing the registrar installation to transferregistration of the at least one domain name to the at least onecustomer.
 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the proxyinstallation comprises means for passing at least one email along to theat least one customer.
 5. The system according to claim 4, furthercomprising means for blocking one or more categories of email fromreaching the at least one customer.
 6. The system according to claim 5,wherein the categories of email comprise at least one of SPAM,unauthorized bulk email, unauthorized commercial email, or pornography.7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the means for receiving theat least one customer domain name registration request from the at leastone customer comprises means for receiving the at least one customerdomain name registration request from the at least one customercomprising at least one of an individual, a business, or an otherentity, and the means for communicating the at least one domain name andthe at least one customer information regarding the at least onecustomer to the proxy installation comprises means for communicating theat least one customer information regarding the at least one customercomprising the at least one of the individual, the business, or theother entity.
 8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at leastone customer comprises an individual.
 9. The system according to claim1, wherein the at least one customer comprises an entity.
 10. A systemcomprising: (a) a registrar computer installation establishing aregistrar web site; (b) a proxy computer installation; (c) at least oneinteractive registrar page on the registrar web site enabling a customerto request a registration of at least one domain name; (d) a message onat least one of the at least one interactive registrar page promptingthe customer to indicate whether a proxy registration of the at leastone domain name is desired; (e) a field on at least one of the at leastone interactive registrar page for the customer to enter the at leastone domain name; (f) a connection at the registrar computer installationfor communicating to the proxy computer installation: (i) a request forat least one proxy information for use in registering the at least onedomain name to a proxy having a name, and (ii) at least one customerinformation of the customer; (g) the proxy computer installationcomprising a first database for storing in association the at least onedomain name and the at least one customer information; (h) a connectionat the proxy computer installation for communicating the at least oneproxy information to the registrar computer installation; (i) theregistrar computer installation comprising a second database for storingin association the at least one proxy information and the at least onedomain name; and (j) a connection at the registrar computer installationfor sending to a domain name registry: (i) a request for the proxyregistration of the at least one domain name in the name of the proxy;and (ii) the at least one proxy information.
 11. The system according toclaim 10, further comprising a communication input at the proxy computerinstallation for receipt of communications for the customer.
 12. Thesystem according to claim 11, wherein the communication input at theproxy computer installation comprises a proxy web site having at leastone interactive proxy page enabling the customer to indicatecancellation of the proxy registration of the at least one domain name.13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the proxy computerinstallation is adapted to communicate a request for cancellation of theproxy registration of the at least one domain name to the registrarcomputer installation when cancellation of the proxy registration of theat least one domain name is requested by the customer, and to forward tothe registrar computer installation the at least one domain name and theat least one customer information of the customer, the registrarcomputer installation being responsive to the request for cancellationof the proxy registration from the proxy computer installation tocontact the domain name registry and effect a transfer of theregistration of the at least one domain name from the proxy to thecustomer and to supply the at least one customer information to thedomain name registry and replace in the second database of the registrarcomputer installation the at least one proxy information with the atleast one customer information.
 14. The system according to claim 10,further comprising a proxy email server adapted to receive at least oneemail, the at least one proxy information comprising a proxy emailaddress, the registrar computer installation publishing the proxy emailaddress in association with the at least one domain name, whereby anemail intended for the customer is directed to the proxy email server.15. The system according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the atleast one interactive registrar page enables a request for registrationby the customer comprising at least one of an individual, a business, oran other entity, and the connection at the registrar computerinstallation for communicating to the proxy computer installationcommunicates the at least one customer information of the customercomprising the at least one of the individual, the business, or theother entity.
 16. The system according to claim 10, wherein the customercomprises an individual.
 17. The system according to claim 10, whereinthe customer comprises an entity.
 18. A method comprising: (a) providinga computer installation accessible via a computer network, (b)receiving, at the computer installation from at least one customer viathe computer network, at least one request to register at least onedomain name, (c) offering the at least one customer at least one proxyregistration of the at least one domain name, (d) receiving at least oneproxy registration request for the at least one domain name from the atleast one customer, (e) forwarding the at least one domain name and atleast one customer information regarding the at least one customer to aproxy, (f) receiving at least one proxy information from the proxy, and(g) registering by proxy the at least one domain name with a registry,wherein registering comprises providing the at least one proxyinformation to the registry for the at least one domain name registeredby the at least one proxy registration.
 19. The method according toclaim 18, further comprising: requesting the at least one customerinformation from the at least one customer requesting the at least oneproxy registration, and transferring to the proxy for storage by theproxy the at least one customer information in association with the atleast one domain name registered by the at least one proxy registration.20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising: storing the atleast one proxy information in association with the at least one domainname registered by the at least one proxy registration.
 21. The methodaccording to claim 20, further comprising: directing to the proxyelectronic communications addressed to the at least one domain nameregistered by the at least one proxy registration.
 22. The methodaccording to claim 18, further comprising providing a cancellationprocedure to the at least one customer.
 23. The method according toclaim 22, in response to receiving a request from the at least onecustomer to use the cancellation procedure, transferring registration ofthe at least one domain name registered by the at least one proxyregistration to the at least one customer.
 24. The method according toclaim 22 further comprising: retrieving the at least one customerinformation from the proxy, and transferring the at least one customerinformation to the registry at which the at least one domain name isregistered.
 25. The method according to claim 18, wherein the at leastone customer of steps (b), (c) and (e) comprises at least one of anindividual, a business, or an other entity.
 26. The method according toclaim 18, wherein the at least one customer comprises an individual. 27.The method according to claim 18, wherein the at least one customercomprises an entity.
 28. The method according to claim 18, wherein thecomputer network comprises the Internet.
 29. The method according toclaim 18, wherein steps (f) and (g) are performed during the samecommunication session between the computer installation and the at leastone customer.
 30. A computer program comprising a non-transitorycomputer readable medium storing computer readable code executable by acomputer and comprising: (a) a first program for defining a web sitecomprising a first programming for: (i) receiving from a customer at theweb site a customer request to register at least one domain name, (ii)offering to the customer at the web site an option to register the atleast one domain name by proxy, and (iii) receiving at least onecustomer information regarding the customer, (b) a second program forcommunicating with a registry comprising a second programming for: (i)communicating the at least one domain name, a registrar request toregister the at least one domain name, and at least one registrantinformation to the registry, and (c) a third program for communicatingwith a proxy comprising a third programming for: (i) requesting at leastone proxy information for use in association with the at least oneregistrant information.
 31. The computer program of claim 30, whereinthe second program for communicating with the registry comprises anadditional programming for forwarding the at least one registrantinformation in association with the at least one proxy information tothe registry with the at least one domain name to be registered byproxy.
 32. The computer program of claim 31, further comprising afurther programming to store the at least one proxy information inassociation with the at least one domain name.
 33. The computer programof claim 32, wherein the at least one proxy information forwarded to theregistry comprises an identity of the proxy.
 34. The computer program ofclaim 33, wherein the at least one proxy information that is storedcomprises at least one contact information for the proxy.
 35. Thecomputer program of claim 34, wherein the at least one contactinformation for the proxy comprises an email address for the proxy. 36.The computer program of claim 30, wherein the third program forcommunicating with the proxy comprises an additional programming forforwarding the at least one customer information to the proxy.
 37. Thecomputer program of claim 36, wherein the at least one customerinformation comprises contact information for the customer.
 38. Theprogram computer program of claim 37, wherein the contact information ofthe at least one customer information comprises an email address for thecustomer.
 39. The computer program according to claim 30, wherein theweb site receives the customer request and the at least one customerinformation from the customer that comprises an individual, a business,or an other entity.
 40. The computer program according to claim 30,wherein the customer comprises an individual.
 41. The computer programaccording to claim 30, wherein the customer comprises an entity. 42.Programming comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storingcomputer readable code executable by a computer and comprising: (a)communications programming enabling the computer to receive: (i) adomain name; (ii) a request for at least one proxy domain nameregistrant information for the domain name, the at least one proxydomain name registrant information being for a proxy entity having aname; and (iii) at least one customer information for a customer thathas requested a proxy domain name registration of the domain name; (b) adatabase; (c) programming to store in the database the at least onecustomer information in association with the domain name; (d)programming to retrieve the domain name and the at least one customerinformation; and (e) further communications programming enabling thecomputer to send to a registrar the at least one proxy domain nameregistrant information to be used in registering the domain name in thename of the proxy entity.
 43. The programming according to claim 42further comprising: web site programming to establish an interactive website for communication with the proxy entity.
 44. The programmingaccording to claim 43, wherein the web site programming comprises a webpage for receiving a request for cancellation of the proxy domain nameregistration.
 45. The programming according to claim 44, furthercomprising programming responsive to the request for cancellation of theproxy domain name registration to cause retrieval of the at least onecustomer information associated with the proxy domain name registrationto be cancelled, and subsequently, to cause additional communicationsprogramming to send to the registrar the at least one customerinformation that is retrieved.
 46. A system comprising: (a) a computerinstallation establishing a web site; (b) at least one interactive pageon the web site enabling a customer to request a registration of atleast one domain name; (c) a field on at least one of the at least oneinteractive page for the customer to enter the at least one domain name;(d) a message on at least one of the at least one interactive pageprompting the customer to indicate whether a proxy registration of theat least one domain name is desired; (e) a computer installationprogramming operative in response to the customer's indication of adesire for the proxy registration of the at least one domain name toassociate at least one proxy information regarding a proxy domain nameregistrant with the at least one domain name, the proxy domain nameregistrant having a name; (f) a database for storing in association withat least one customer information of the customer the at least onedomain name and the at least one proxy information, and (g) a connectionat the computer installation for sending to a domain name registry: (i)a request for registration of the at least one domain name in the nameof the proxy domain name registrant; and (ii) at least a portion of theat least one proxy information.
 47. The system according to claim 46,further comprising a communication input for receipt of electroniccommunications for the customer.